Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
'building' installations, computer applications and multimedia products that provide users
with the ability to 'move' through a pre-recorded or interactive 'space'. There are basically
two approaches that can be taken - to build products where the user is taken on a guided
tour (this requires no interactivity) or to allow the user to control how they move through or
navigate through a space (which must be explicitly interactive) (Naimark, 1991). Collections
of images, still or moving, individual or panoramic, are assembled and the user is invited
to become an 'armchair traveller' (no interactivity) or to explore the space (via interactive
collections).
The success of surrogate travel products depends upon two things: how the actual images
are assembled and their ability to provide an adequate 'picture' of an area or space; and nav-
igation, the key ingredient that enables users to properly move through spaces. Navigation
can enhance the way in which a user moves through an 'information space'. Thoughtful
design and graphic impact are essential elements of any presentation package, but if users
do not know where they are in a package and how other elements relate, then their use
of and interaction with the information provided will be at best limited and in the worst
case non-existent. It is therefore essential not only that navigation of interaction packages
be assessed, but also that information is provided so that users 'know' where they are in a
(virtual) space and how that space would appear in reality.
The author's interest in exploring the potential of surrogate travel began when the po-
tential for such products was seen in 1986, with the BBC
Domesday
product (Goddard
and Armstrong, 1986; Openshaw and Mounsey, 1986). The
Domesday
double laservision
videodisc provided an innovative multimedia 'picture' of Britain in the 1980s. It was jointly
produced by the BBC (British Broadcasting Commission), Acorn Computers and Philips
to commemorate the 900th anniversary of William the Conqueror's tally topic. Part of the
so-called Community videodisc was 'surrogate walks' through both urban and rural town-
ships. Users of the system could 'walk' down streets, make turns wherever they wished and
inspect the interiors of buildings, passageways and even rooms. Images photographed from
the screen showing an example 'walk' are provided in Figure 6.1.
This was not the first time that surrogate travel had been used in multimedia products.
The Aspen Movie Map, devised and undertaken by the MIT Machine Architecture Group in
1978 (Lippman, 1980; Negroponte, 1995), with Andrew Lippman as principal investigator
(a)
(b)
Figure
6.1
Domesday
videodisc
(source:
http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Acorn/
domesday.htm)
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